


The Man Within The Monster

by MidnightMare247



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood, Gen, OC based story, POV First Person, Profanity, Sad moments, Violence, also a bit of mystery, funny moments, lots of cute moments, no romantic pairings between bh flug or demencia (sorry), or at least no pairings with each other or with the main character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 07:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13162047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightMare247/pseuds/MidnightMare247
Summary: None of this was supposed to happen to Jack. He had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.  And because of this, Jack Grave - an unfortunate man who didn’t asked to be kidnapped and have some strange injection turn him into a monstrous creature – now belonged to the notorious Black Hat. What will life be like for him now as the newest member of Black Hat Inc.?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! Before you begin reading, I'd like to mention that the first chapter is sorta kinda more of a prologue, and that the other chapters are expected to be much longer than the first one. Also sorry if there are any grammatical errors, I try to make sure not to leave any errors in but sometimes I just miss them. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Have you ever been thrown into a situation so bizarre, it almost felt unreal? Well that’s pretty much what this story is all about. As far as I knew, I was a fairly normal guy living a fairly normal life. That was until one particular night that changed everything.

It was a cold night in Hatsville. I was walking down the sidewalk, guided by occasional streetlights. The sky was cloudy and dark, and the cold wind blew steadily. I had just clocked out from my late night shift at the convenience store and was on my way home, as usual. I always walked the same path and didn’t live too close to the more dangerous areas of Hatsville, so I was never really worried about getting mugged, kidnapped or murdered on my way home at this time of night. Besides, as a young, 23-year old adult, I figured I could defend myself well enough if I ever were to get attacked…probably.

I pulled out my cellphone and decided to text my girlfriend to let her know I’m on my way home. Afterwards, I decided to take a picture of myself, going into my camera app on my phone and switching the camera to ‘selfie mode.’ I figured I’d send her a picture of me making a silly face since she always seemed to like when I did that. I had tannish-colored skin with black, messy hair, green eyes, and a beauty mark right below my left eye. I wasn’t really that self-conscious about my looks, but I never considered myself incredibly handsome, either. Other than that, I wore a red flannel shirt over top a grey shirt, dark blue jeans, pierced ears with two small silver earrings and lastly, a dog tag chain with the name “Kiara” engraved on it. It wasn’t my name of course, but the name belonged to someone very special to me.

Suddenly, just as I was about to send a picture of me making a zombie face to her, I heard footsteps from behind me. I slowed to a stop and looked over my shoulder. There was no one else in sight, just streetlights and an empty sidewalk. I waited for a small moment before continuing down the sidewalk, hoping that it was just my footsteps that I heard. That is, until I heard it again. I stopped and turned around this time, looking around. This time I know I heard it. I tensed up and slid my phone back in my pocket.

Someone was following me.

I didn’t know who it was or where it was, but I had a feeling that somebody was watching me, following me from a distance. There was no way I’m going down like some cliché horror movie character. So without hesitation, I made a run for it, bolting as fast as I could down the empty sidewalk. My heart raced within my chest as I ran but I tried to remain calm and keep a clear head. I was nearly home; just ten more minutes or so, and I’d see my cozy apartment room where my loving girlfriend was waiting for me. I made a few sharp turns down different streets until eventually, I slowed down to a stop to catch my breath. Panting, I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was chasing me. There was no one in sight, but that didn’t mean the coast was clear, though. Best to keep running, I thought.

Just as I began running again, still looking over my shoulder,

“Oof-!”

I felt myself collide against something, causing myself to fall onto the hard cement of the sidewalk. I quickly looked up to see what I had ran into and standing there right in front of me, I saw a man, with grey skin, a black suit, and a black top hat on top of his head. He was staring down at me with an evil, toothy grin that showed off his two rows of sharp, malicious teeth. I could only see one black pupil staring down at me for the other eye seemed to be covered by a monocle he was wearing.

I knew who this being was. The villain everyone feared most within Hatsville and knew better not to get involved with.

It was Black Hat.

“Going somewhere?” The eldritch being said to me in a dark, evil tone.

Just as I was about to scurry away, he leaned down and snatched me up by the collar. I couldn’t even comprehend what was happening as I suddenly felt weightless, swirls of darkness blocking my vision. When the swirls of darkness disappeared almost just as quickly as they had appeared, I found myself standing inside of a strange lab with Black Hat still gripping my shirt. Did we just teleport? Black Hat slammed me down on a metal table and strapped down my wrists and ankles. I winced, both from feeling my body being slammed onto metal and from the tight straps that now held down my arms and legs. Everything was happening so fast, I felt like I barely had time to think and process what was going on.

“There, I’ve brought you a test subject Doctor Flug, now perform the experiment before I lose my patience!” Black Hat demanded.

Test subject? What was he talking about? Just as I thought that, I looked over and saw a meek looking man with a brown paper bag over his head and a lab coat come forth from out of the darkness.

“Y-Yes, right away, sir! This should do just fine…” The person whom I assumed to be ‘Dr. Flug’ said.

I watched the doctor observe me before pulling out a large, intimidating looking needle. I could see a strange black substance spurting out from within it and didn’t need to know what it was to be afraid. Nearly panicking, I struggled to escape the straps that held me down.

 “No! Let me go, let me go!” I begged, frightened.

 The scientist seemed a bit hesitant at first, looking at me with a worried look.

 “Flug, we don’t have all day.” Black Hat said impatiently, tapping his foot against the floor with his arms crossed.

 Flug walked over to me then leaned forward with the needle.

 “No no no, wait!”

I felt a pinch on my skin as the doctor inserted the needle into my neck. My eyes widened and my pupils dilated. My body began to tremble. I felt like I could feel the substance travelling through my veins so quickly. I could feel it growing and spreading. My breathing grew heavier and I began to twitch all over. I glanced down at my arms as I was still tied down to the table and saw black veins all over my arms, pulsating and spreading. I wanted to scream but it felt like I was choking on air.

 What was happening to me?

 My vision began to blur until all I saw was darkness as I passed out.


	2. Mark and Recapture

The next day, I woke up on what felt like cold metal. I opened my eyes but couldn’t recognize where I was. All I could see was darkness and what looked like…bars? Slowly, I sat up with a groan, memories of last night flooding back into my head. I remembered walking home until I suddenly got chased and kidnapped by Black Hat, then this doctor guy injected me with a needle and I blacked out. But everything else was a blur. Where was I? Why am I here?

…Who am I?

That’s when I realized something; I couldn’t remember who I was! Well, I knew my name and what I looked like, but that was the only thing I could remember about myself. I tried to think of where I came from, where I lived, the people I knew, but no matter how hard I tried to remember, I just couldn’t. It was as if all my memories had just been stolen. I looked up and realized I was in a cage that was big enough to fit maybe three people inside. The rest of the room was dark, but there was a door straight ahead of me not too far from the cage. The door was cracked open and light came from outside of it.

I grabbed onto the cold bars of the cage and tried to open the cage door, but there was a lock on it. Just great. Then I tried to push the cage towards the door from inside it. I slammed against the cage with my shoulder, hoping I could nudge it towards the door. The cage hardly moved an inch. Wow, I’m sure 1,000 more nudges and I’ll be home free. I sighed but just as I was about to attempt to push the cage again, the door in front of me opened. I shot my head towards the direction of the door to see a familiar looking man with a paper bag over top of his head walk into the room.

“Ah, you’re awake.” The slim man said, making his way over to me. “I-I’m sure you’re probably really confused. So I’m here to give you a, well, explanation.”

I recognized this man. He was the one who injected that shot into me yesterday. It seemed like he did it under the orders of Black Hat, the guy I’m assuming was his boss. Regardless, I was hoping this guy would be the key to remember just who I was and what I was doing here.

“Who are you? Where am I? Do you know who I am? What was that stuff you injected into me the other day? And why am I here?” I asked him anxiously.

“O-Okay, slow down, one question at a time- Wait, you don’t know who you are?” Flug responded, looking at me with a confused expression.

“No, I don’t. That’s why I’m asking you.” I said, looking at him expectantly.

Flug paused for a moment before looking at me worriedly.

“O-Oh my… Well, it seems… Do you at least know your name?” Flug asked me.

“Yeah, uh, my name is Jack, I’m pretty sure… But I don’t know anything else about me. I figured it had something to do with whatever you injected me with yesterday. Last night is the only thing I can remember…”

Flug looked thoughtful for a moment then sighed.

“Well, I can’t say it wasn’t the experiment’s fault…” Flug responded. “The substance I injected into you was a chemical I invented, designed to create a beast or creature to serve villains. For example, you can create a beast to use as a guard dog to protect a villain’s lair, or you could use them to help take down heroes.”

My stomach dropped and I began to feel nauseated. If what Flug was telling me was true, then that means they were trying to turn me into some kind of beast. Maybe that has something to do with those black veins I saw spreading across my skin the other night.

“My boss wanted me to test it to make sure it worked before actually selling it as a product to other villains. So that’s when he, well, brought you here…”

That was a light way of putting it. The guy literally stalked me, snatched me up, and then kidnapped me.

“I guess one of the side effects of the chemical is memory loss. That wasn’t quite intentional, but I suppose it makes sense.” Flug said.

I frowned a bit at this. Whatever this substance was sounded terrible. Turning people into monsters and robbing them of their memories? Only cruel, villainous people would do such a thing to someone… Oh right. Speaking of this strange chemical, if it’s really supposed to turn people into beasts, then shouldn’t I be a beast? I mean, I didn’t feel a beast. I looked down at my hands, arms and body. Same old human hands, human arms and human body. Then I looked back up at Flug.

“So then…your chemical didn’t work?” I asked him.

Flug paused again and examined me up and down before responding.

“I-I’m not sure…” Flug said.

What did he mean, he’s not sure? Anyone could tell by looking at me that I was still human. The only thing that chemical seemed to have done was give me amnesia. I sighed and took a moment to take all this in. So basically, I was kidnapped, used as a test subject for some experiment, then got put in this cage. And it didn’t seem like the doctor had any idea just who I might be. Well one things for sure; I need to get out of this place.

“Are you gonna at least let me go now? I mean you’ve done your experiment, right? So I can go home now, right?” I asked, looking over at him with hopeful eyes.

Flug avoided eye contact with me, looking quite nervous all of a sudden.

“W-Well… I-I, um…”

Before the doctor could finish his sentence, a new person whom I did not recognize came rushing into the room.

“Hey Flugsy~! What’cha doooin’?” The woman said.

I looked over at the woman, startled by her sudden, unexpected appearance. She wore a black mini skirt, a green and blue hoodie with what appeared to be a lizard head as a hood with a red striped stocking and glove and mitch-match red and blue shoes. Her hair was up in a long green ponytail that looked like a lizard’s body and red bangs which looked like a lizard’s tongue. Whomever this girl was seemed to really like lizards.

“Demencia! You’re not supposed to be in here!” Flug said in an accusing tone.

The woman whose name was apparently Demencia didn’t seem to pay any mind to Flug and instead looked over at me. She ran up to my cage and practically slammed herself against it as she grabbed onto the bars to get a close look at me, causing me to jolt back a bit in surprise.

“Ooooh, who are you?” Demencia asked curiously.

“Uuuh, I’m Jack. Nice to meet you?” I answered unsurely, keeping my eyes on the crazy looking girl.

“Demencia, what did I tell you about coming into my lab? I told you it was strictly off limits unless-“

“Yeah yeah, I know! But I can’t help it! You always have such fun things to play with in here~” She said, eyeing me mischievously.

I backed up a little more but before the situation can escalate any further, another familiar voice came from the doorway, causing all three of us to turn our heads towards the door.

“Ahem. So, our test subject is finally awake.” Black Hat said, looking over at me.

A felt a chill run up my spine as soon as I realized who it was. Black Hat walked into the room.

“Demencia, go mess with 505.” Black Hat ordered. “Flug and I have something we need to take care of in the lab and I don’t want you getting in the way.”

“Awwwe, fiiiine.” Demencia pouted but slithered out of the lab, closing the door behind her.

505? I wonder who that might be. Flug took a few steps to the side, letting Black Hat walk past him to stand right in front of my cage. I looked up at him, sitting on my knees. Watching him hover over me like this felt pretty intimidating, but I couldn’t stand up due to the cage being too short for that. Black Hat’s eyes appeared to be examining me from head to toe. I shifted uncomfortably.

“Hmm, he’s still in human form. Nothing about him looks monstourous at all!” Black Hat said, looking at Flug accusingly. “You said your chemical was supposed to turn people into beasts!”

Flug put his hands up in defense, sweating nervously.

“I-I know, b-but sir, you saw what happened last night. M-Maybe it just takes a little time to work?” Flug responded.

What does he mean, he saw what happened last night? The only thing that happened that I knew of was weird black veins showing up on my arms before I passed out. Nothing other than that happened… Right? Was there another part that I was forgetting about yesterday?

"You had better be right, Flug, or so help me…”

“Hey, excuse me!” I said abruptly.

Both Black Hat and Flug looked over at me, one with an annoyed expression and the other with a worried one. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but one thing I did know is that staying here was probably not the best idea.

“Aren’t you gonna let me go now?” I asked.

Both Black Hat and Flug were silent at first until suddenly, Black Hat burst out into dark laughter.

“Let you go? Ha! You’re not going anywhere, human.” Black Hat said.

I looked at him with a confused and worried expression.

“B-But why? The experiment didn’t work! What else do you need me for?” I asked, hoping to reason with this villain.

“Oh it worked. It might not have worked the way we expected, but it did do…something. Therefore, you belong to me now, and you aren’t leaving this manor.” Black Hat responded.

I swear I felt my heart stop for a few seconds. Belong to Black Hat? That’s like selling your soul to the devil! My hands trembled, gripping the cold bars of the cage I was still in tightly. This couldn’t be happening to me. It just couldn’t. Did I do something to deserve this awful fate? Because frankly, I wouldn’t know. Either way, I wasn’t happy about it at all. I frowned at the man with the top hat on and responded.

“Like hell I’m staying here! First you kidnap me, then you inject me with this weird chemical against my will, and now you’re saying I can’t go home!? You just expect me to accept that!?” I said angrily.

Flug was sweating for nervously now as he watched Black Hat walk up closer to my cage, stopping right in front of it. He stood right in front of me, bent over, and gave me an evil smirk. At that moment, as I looked back at that evil facial expression, I began to feel the same nervous the doctor was feeling.

“It doesn’t matter whether you accept it or not. You don’t have a choice. Besides, it’s either that, or we could just get rid of you entirely.” Black Hat said. “Would you rather me feed you to the crocodiles in the cellar? Or perhaps you could participate in another experiment, except one involving a more fatal outcome?”

My anger transitioned back into fear after hearing that threat, my grip on the bars loosening and my facial expression softening. This did not go unnoticed by the eldritch being standing in front of me.

“Mm, that’s what I thought.” Black Hat said.

Black Hat pulled away and started heading towards the exit.

“Come along, Flug, we have work to do.” Black Hat said.

I watched as both of them made their way out of the room.

“W-Wait! You can’t just leave me here! Hey!” I called out to them.

I tried reaching out of the cage towards them but it was too late. Black Hat and Doctor Flug left the room, closing the door behind them and leaving me back alone in the dark.

 

* * *

 

I sat in the cage for what felt like hours, wondering if anyone was going to come back. I was beginning to think they had just forgotten about me altogether. The door wasn’t cracked open like last time, leaving me in almost total darkness if it weren’t for one of the chemicals in the beakers on Flug’s lab table glowing in the dark. It wasn’t the same chemical he injected me with, but I could imagine it being equally strange, especially if it was glowing. Regardless, as I sat there in the dark, I tried to recall something from my memories. Anything.

But nothing came to mind. It was like my mind was a drawing, and almost all of it had just been erased completely. Would’ve there was someone or some people out there looking for me? Did I have a family? If I did, they’re probably worried sick about me. Or would’ve I lived alone but I had a pet, and I’m not around to feed it!? The thoughts left me feeling more and more anxious.

Then I noticed something dangling from my neck. I lifted my hand to touch it. It was a thin silver chain with some sort of pendant hanging from it. I picked up the pendant to get a better look at it. It looked like a dog tag, with some letters engraved on it. It was hard to see it in the dark, so I leaned forward to get a better look at it, the glow from the chemical on Flug’s lab desk providing just enough light for me to see it.

“Kiara” was engraved on the dog tag. Who’s Kiara? It wasn’t my name. Was it someone close to me? The name did sound familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite remember who it belonged to. Whoever it did must be important to me if I have the name engraved on my chain. Maybe there were more clues I could gather. I checked my pockets to see if there were anything in them but they were both empty. Damn. Did I have anything on me before I got here? I tried to remember last night. I do remember running away from Black Hat, but before I did that I had a phone in my hands.

Aha! My phone! That should have plenty of information for me to use! Contacts, texts, pictures; those could all possibly jog up my memory! Black Hat must’ve confiscated it after I passed out. If only I knew where he put it…

My thoughts were interrupted when suddenly, the door cracked open. I shot my head towards the door once again, expecting it to be either Black Hat, Doctor Flug or Demencia. But instead, a much larger figure poked its head into the room. It was a bear, a blue one to be exact, with two big friendly eyes and a yellow flower on top of his head. I looked at the bear in surprise.

“Uh, hello there.” I said to the bear.

The bear smiled and waved at me as if greeting me back, then entered the room. I smiled as I got a full view of the bear. He looked so cute! And compared to the other three people in this place that I’ve met so far, he seemed a lot friendlier. Then I remembered Black Hat telling Demencia to go mess with someone named 505 earlier.

“Wait a minute… You must be 505.” I said.

The bear nodded eagerly.

"Well, it’s nice to meet you, 505. I’m Jack. Can you talk?” I asked curiously.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he could, considering how bizarre this situation already felt to me. The bear spoke as if he was trying to talk, but they weren’t actual words, just bear sounds. This only made him even cuter. I chuckled.

“Close enough.” I responded

I watched the bear make his way closer to me until he was sitting right in front of my cage. He seemed like he was eager to get to know me. I didn’t have much to tell, considering I no longer knew myself…  But having a friendly and kind presence in the room did make me feel better.

“Awe, you’re so cute~” I said.

I reached out of the cage and ran my fingers through his blue fur, petting him. His fur felt so soft against my fingers. 505 seemed happy as I pet him, nuzzling into my hands. So soft and cuddly~ I suddenly had the urge to hug him, but I couldn’t while in this cage. Then I got an idea. I stop petting him and pulled my hand away.

“Hey buddy, you wouldn’t happen to know where the keys to this cage are, would you? Could you let me out?” I asked him.

The bear looked at me unsurely, as if he knew he’d get in trouble if he let me out of this cage. I didn’t want to get him in trouble, but I also didn’t want to be stuck in this place for the rest of my life. If I wanted to escape this place, this was probably the only chance I would get.

“Come on, bud, I promise I won’t tell. But I gotta get out of this cage. It would mean a lot if you could help.” I said, giving him a friendly smile.

Who knew one day I’d be trying to convince a blue bear to help me get out of a cage to escape an evil villain’s lair. The bear still seemed a little reluctant at first but soon smiled and nodded, deciding to help. I watched as he sniffed and searched around the room until he spotted the keys on Doctor Flug’s desk. My smile widened.

“Good job, 505! Now just bring the keys here and unlock the cage.” I said.

505 did just that, grabbing the keys then making his way over to my cage. He unlocked the lock on the cage door then took a step back. I opened the cage door and crawled out, relieved to finally be set free from what felt like a tiny prison cell. I stood up and stretched my stiff limbs, finally being able to stand again for what felt like hours. Then I looked at 505 and wrapped my arms around him, not being able to resist.

“Thank you so much, 505. You’re such a good boy~” I said as I hugged the fluffy creature.

505 seemed very happy, returning the hug. Then I decided to pet him some more, receiving more happy responses from the bear. It was almost like petting a dog, except bigger. What could such a kind creature like 505 be doing in a place like this, anyway? After a moment of rewarding the bear with hugs and pets for his good deed, I started to head towards the exit of the lab. I looked back at 505 who watched as I headed out.

“Thanks again for letting me free, 505. Goodbye.” I waved goodbye to the bear, smiling as I left the room.

505 only watched me leave worriedly, as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

 

* * *

 

 

I crept down the hallway as stealthily as I could. The hallway was long with greyish-purple wallpaper, a similar colored floor but darker and doors leading to different rooms. I was a bit curious as to what was in the doors, but there was no time for curiosity. I had to escape now, before Black Hat finds out I’m no longer in the cage. I continued to make my way down the hall, not seeing anyone along the way. It was hard to tell just where I was going, but surely there had to be an exit somewhere.

Eventually, I saw the staircase leading to the upper part of this mansion. This means I have to be close to the entrance, right? And just as I thought that, that’s when I saw it. The front door was literally straight ahead of me. The doorway to my freedom was right there. All I had to do was exit. I looked around me first, making sure the coast was clear. Then I took a deep breath and without second thought, I bolted towards the door. I tried hard not to think too much, just run for dear life.

I slammed open the front door and rushed down the stairs of the porch and down the hill, towards the black gates. The feeling of fresh air once again brushing across my skin as I raced to freedom. The familiar sight of the cloudy sky encouraged me to move faster. The whole town was right there, and all I had to do was keep running.

Almost there now, the black fence surrounding the manor was right in front of me. The gate looked as if it was just waiting to be reopened. I reached out, preparing myself to push open the gates.

Until suddenly, I felt something hard smack against the back of my head.

I collided against the ground as I was yanked into unconsciousness.


End file.
